


Oceans Above Stars Below

by Abby_with_her_mothers_eyes



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Mermaids, Original work - Freeform, Sirens, Tumblr Prompt, quotes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17604386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abby_with_her_mothers_eyes/pseuds/Abby_with_her_mothers_eyes
Summary: Mermaids are the women thrown off boats because having women on board is ‘bad luck.’ As they sink to the bottom, legs tied together, they slowly change until they can breathe, they can use their tied legs to swim. They drown sailors in revenge, luring them in by singing in husky voices still stinging from the salt water they breathed.When Briney is thrown from the ship she was sailing on, she becomes a mermaid partly to survive, but most of all, to get revenge. But what happens when not all is as it seems about her death?(And yes, I do suck at summerys, thanks for asking)"Its the sound of the sea that makes you believe in mermaids."





	1. An Unexpected Swim

**Author's Note:**

> “Ocean, n. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man — who has no gills.”  
> ― Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary

The storm came from nowhere. One minute, Briney was playing cards with her new found friend Zachary, and the next thing she knew, dark clouds were rolling in heavy from the northern horizon. There were signs a big storm was coming if only you knew where to look. Had Briney been a sailor, she wouldn't have been so surprised by the storm, as the waves had been rising for hours. The sailors had been getting antsy for quite some time, and the bigger ones had been bringing cargo below deck and drawing in the sail so the mast wasn’t broken by strong winds.  


Once all 60 of the passengers had spotted the black, roiling clouds building on the horizon, the tension in the air started to mount. Briney felt herself shrink back against Zachary as a couple of the bigger male passengers started pacing anxiously across the deck. Normally, she would have felt a bit uncomfortable doing so - at 17 she was well aware that Zachary was good looking, especially for a slightly runty sailor - but at the moment she was more worried about protection from the men who were looking less anxious and more angry by the minute. As they passed, she could hear little bits of their mutterings. “Too much women here, gods gonna be mad,” seemed to be the general consensus among them all.  


Zachary placed comforting hands on her shoulders. The ocean was starting to become more choppy, and so salty spray was ricocheting off the sides of the ship and soaking her clothes in a freezing mist. She could feel the warmth of his hands through her cotton blouse as they pulled her closer to him so he could speak directly in her ear. “Briney, you need to get down to the lower level! It's not going to be safe for you up here soon! Hide behind some barrels of water. I’ll come to get you once the storm passes.”  


Briney stayed a moment longer within the warmth and comfort his arms provided, then she left to go hide downstairs. The wind was howling now, and she had to re-tie her long brown hair into another, tighter bun so she could see where she was going. She didn't want to end up walking off the edge of the ship and into the ocean. She shuddered inwardly. What a horrible way to die. Reaching the edge of the trapdoor that leads down to the lower levels of the ship where they stored water and rations, she peered down at the ladder that was the only way down. Nudging the grate over just enough for her slim form to fit through, she slipped in and then reached up to close it again behind her.  


It was dark down there, and she stumbled around a bit until her eyes adjusted enough for her to see where she was going. She spotted the water barrels almost immediately (they were kind of hard to miss) and almost tripped in her rush to get behind them to hide. She had heard what sailors did to girls if there was a storm, she knew why Zachary had been in such a rush to get her out of sight. They threw the “Bad Luck Charms,” of the boat and into the sea, hands tied to each other and legs tied together, bubbles streaming from their mouths and noses as they sunk lower and lower beneath the surface, hands reaching up to the world above, hair fanning around their heads like an angel’s halo…She shook her head, trying to shake away the thoughts. It almost worked. Sighing, she settled in for the long wait.  


Which didn't turn out to be that long. A shaft of light from a sputtering lantern illuminated the floor right in front of where she huddled, hidden behind the water barrels. “Briney? Are you down here?” Zachary's voice floated down from the square of light above her head. She could just barely see his head. Her fingers found the metal of her mother’s old necklace, searching for comfort as the ship kept rocking back and forth across the choppy water.  


“Yes! I'm right here!” She called back. “Is the storm already gone?”  


Another head appeared beside him. A man. A man with a very ugly expression on his face. The storm wasn't over. It wasn't even close. It had just begun. She should have known that it couldn’t have already been done. Zachary’s head suddenly disappeared and was replaced with another angry looking man. “Did he betray me,” she wondered, “Or did they just happen to come across him as he was checking on me?” She soon had an answer. They hauled her out of her hole. Her hair had fallen out of her tight bun and was falling across her face like straggling brown seaweed. Rain has started pouring from the heavens, like hundreds of angels were crying for her plight, their tears splashing against her face and freezing her arms stiff.  


She knew distantly that she was crying, felt her arms bruising, could hear the sailors saying, “Stupid thing thought she could hide from us. What is she trying to do, kill us all?” But all she could focus on was finding Zachary. He would offer her help, he would save her from these horrible people. Then her eyes caught on his through the crowd of sailors. Molten chocolate eyes meeting her own hazel ones. She saw them and knew then and there that there would be no help from him. From no one. She was well and truly on her own. That was when she started fighting.  


At first, she picked her legs up, hoping that her sudden weight would make them drop her. She should have known better. These were seasoned sailors, her 120-pound body was nothing to them. She tried clawing at their eyes, but they just pinned her arms to her sides. She tried kicking them, it was like kicking a wall. She was well and truly powerless. She went limp. Stopped fighting and decided to conserve her energy for the storm-tossed waves. When they dragged her to the side of the ship and she could see over the side, it was to the view of dozens of bloated faces staring at her from the surf: other girls and women who had already fallen prey to superstitions and fear. She gave one last feeble attempt to escape. The sailors had been loosening their grip in order to push her into the water, and so she somehow managed to break loose from them and run back towards the hole which would take her back to relative safety. But then, a skinny runt of a sailor, with eyes of molten chocolate, and hands that had been so warm, stepped between her and her only chance of safety before she had even made it three steps. “I’m sorry,” his eyes said. “It’s you or me.” They pleaded with her to understand. And she did. She understood completely.  


When the shove came that pushed her over the side of the ship, she wasn't even surprised. The only thing that surprised her was the shocked, turning to horrified look on his face, and that he reached out his hand as if to catch her, but then it was too late and she was breaching the surface of the ocean. As her head dunked under the frigid water, she came face to face with a blue face, the eyes of the unfortunate girl forever frozen open in the blank stare of death. After that, she didn't even bother to fight it. When she bobbed up for the last time, she took a huge gulp of air and let herself go under. She knew despite her frantic thoughts on the ship, there was no way she could stay afloat long enough to survive. She would rather die peacefully, looking up at the stormy sky from the shattered frame which was the storm tossed ocean, than exhausted and facedown in the water. No matter what, she didn't want to be just another bloated face.  


With that thought, she dived down deep into the ocean. If she was to die, it would be on her own terms. Taking deep breaths of saltwater into her lungs, all she could feel was stinging pain and cold. She didn't notice when her breaths started to even out, to actually pull in air rather than just water and salt. When her eyes stopped stinging with salt, she barely even paused to consider what it meant. She just kept plowing on and on, down farther and farther. She did notice when arms as cold she almost could have mistaken them for deep water currents wrapped around her, pulling her close to another's chest in a close embrace. She did notice when another pair of ice cold arms wrapped around her legs, leaving rope in their wake, lashing them together as they should have been when she was thrown off the ship. Why weren't they?  


She didn't have long to worry about this as the arms encircling her waist spun her around to come face to face with whatever was holding her. It was...a woman? A beautiful woman. But, no, it wasn't. Woman don't usually have tails, do they? The mermaid - for that’s what she was - gently put her hands on her cheeks and put her forehead against Briney’s. Drawing her head back and looking into her eyes, the mermaid asked her, “Do you want to live? Will you do whatever it takes?” Briney barely had to think about it before nodding. She might have been prepared to die, but that doesn't mean she wanted to. She wanted to live. She wanted...revenge.  


“Whatever it takes.”


	2. An Unexpected Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.”  
> ― Werner Herzog

The cold air caressed her skin where she lay in wait atop the ocean. She was waiting for the sailor Mother Nature had told her was coming. Besides what Mother Nature had told her, she had heard whispers along the currents that this sailor had been one of the crew aboard the ship she was thrown off. She had already found six of the 37. She would eventually find them all; that was the only thing that kept her going. Being a mermaid, she couldn't feel emotions the way humans did. Everything was diluted, like you would feel emotions when watching a B Class Movie - from a distance, not at their full potential. She just felt...empty, most of the time. The only times she didn't feel that way was when she was getting back at the ones who made her this way, the ones who had killed her. The one she was most looking forward to finding was Zachary. She hoped she would find him last. That way she could take her time, relishing in his demise, receiving the full amount of first-hand emotions as possible, stocking up on them. He was the reason she was like this. Cold, virtually emotionless, not human. She was something other, something less. More beautiful though, to be sure. She wasn't even going to try and deny that.  


Her hair, which had been a dull brown nest atop her head most days, now flowed around her gently - silky and smooth despite it's near constant exposure to salt water. Her hazel eyes, which had once been boring and one-dimensional were now like gems. She had always been skinny, her arms and legs just slightly too long for the rest of her body, but now she was willowy looking rather than lanky, her legs graceful rather than awkward. At least, when you could see them. Most of the time, it was her tail you would be looking at.  


Her tail was a thing that there were no words to describe. There was no word that could properly make you picture the way that her scales seemed almost prismatic, holding in the colors of a liquid rainbow, each scale its own universe. No words for how it flicked without any noticeable effort and propelled her through the water like a speeding torpedo. No words could make you envision the power and grace, beauty and eloquence it displayed in such a simple movement.  


She was drawn out of her reverie when she felt a disturbance in the current of the ocean around her. The boat was about to arrive, and with it the sailor. It was go time. She let herself sink into the ocean, just her eyes sticking above the surface. The stars above lit the ocean around her, constellations reflected in crystalline patterns. She casts her gaze around, searching for the boat she knows is coming. She spots it approaching off the horizon. The boat was still too far away for her voice to reach. She feels her body go completely still as she settles in to wait. Once it was about a whales length away, she let her voice take over.  


She never thought about what she was singing (at least while she was singing) - never thought about the words, the notes, anything. Just let the words come out. Today her song was haunting, full of the longing she so often felt, the longing for life, for love, for something other than this shallow, watery grave of an existence. But she only wished that late at night, when she didn't have better things to do than pity herself. Like killing people for instance. 

“Hear my voice now, from below the sea  
You can sleep peacefully  
On her bed  
Rest your head  
Sleep for all eternity

Life up there can be so restless  
Come with me, become virtually stressless  
Listen to my song  
Don't worry, nothing’s wrong!

Let my voice lead the way  
I promise not to lead you astray  
Trust me as you reach the side  
Jumping out to the oceans soft waves

Hear my voice now, from below the sea  
You can sleep peacefully  
On her bed  
Rest your head  
Sleep for all eternity

Let her waters fill your lungs  
Do not worry, peace is on it's way  
Breath in this final time  
As you sink down to her embracing depths

Your love was the Ocean  
You have always loved her  
Now you will always be together  
Mermaids are so clever

Hear my voice now, from below the sea  
You can sleep peacefully  
On her bed  
Rest your head  
Sleep for all eternity!”

Well, this was unexpected and not altogether unpleasant. He wasn't responding at all, which meant there was something blocking his ears. Many sailors had taken to plugging their ears with beeswax in the hopes that it would save their lives. It didn’t work, of course. It only made things more difficult for everyone involved. The men didn’t get to die a nice and peaceful death, and the mermaids had to expend more effort, which made them mad, which made them kill more sailors. It was a vicious cycle.  


The water had responded to her song even if the man hadn't, and the waves had gone from calm to turbulent as the water on top tried to get to the bottom in a never-ending loop. After she had stopped singing, the waves had calmed down, but as she gradually became angrier and angrier they became more and more treacherous.  


She raised her whole body out of the water, her tail turning to legs as she rose, and walked across the tumultuous waves towards him. As soon as she laid eyes on him, she recognized him. He was one of the beefy sailors who had grabbed her and pulled her out of her hiding area. He saw her coming immediately, despite the fact that the waves were intermittently blocking her from view and the stars were beginning to be covered with clouds, causing the light that she had been admiring previously to gradually disappear. The man was clearly panicking. He was running around the deck of his small Catamaran, frantically trying to make it go faster or to hide as he saw her approaching. She knew it was no use, but it was amusing to see them attempting to change their fates. No one escaped when she had set her sights on them - she was as inevitable as the tide approaching.  


Arriving at the hull of the boat, she pulled herself over the hull and walked towards him. He gaped at her. He had never seen a mermaid with legs before. That's because she was the only one. No one knows why, but her tail had never really taken full root - it would disappear with the slightest of thoughts. It might be because when she was thrown overboard, they didn't tie her legs together as they have always done for all other victims of this particular superstition.  


He was so busy staring at her that he forgot that he was supposed to be running away until it was too late. Just as he turned to try and get below deck, she was on him, with all the fury of crashing waves in a storm. And like a castaway in a dingy, there was no escape for him. It was over before it even started. Her gaze caught on his, and we was mesmerized immediately. He reached up and yanked the beeswax out of his ears one by one, and reached for her. Just before he touched her face, she began her lullabye once again.  


“Hear my voice now, from above the sea  
You can sleep peacefully  
On her bed  
Rest your head  
Sleep for all eternity”

“One of the easiest ones yet,” she thought smugly. She was starting to receive the rush of emotions, the feelings, and it was wonderful. However, she was soon losing them, the high fading like that of an addict who had built up a tolerance. As the her emotional high fades, so does she. She lets herself sink back into the water and goes limp, trusting the current to take her home.

///

The trip was much shorter than it should have been. It was cut short as Charlotte swam in front of her, waving her hands around frantically. “Briney! Briney guess what!” She was always like this - over excitable and exuberant. It was usually a part of her charm, but today Briney couldn't be bothered. She exhaustedly began to swim towards home, when Charlotte’s words stopped her mid stroke. “Mother Nature is here!”  


She felt something stirring that could have been happiness. She hadn't seen Mother Nature in a while. Too long. It had been over a year since she had last been able to spend any time with her, and the last time she was here was hardly a joyous occasion.  
She had been here to punish one of the other mermaids. Her name had been Whinn, and Briney can still clearly remember what had happened. As mermaids, they had very few rules.  


Do what Mother Nature tells you  


Don't hurt each other  


Don't befriend humans  


And that's it. Those are the only rules they have to follow. Whinn broke all three. She befriended a human, a man named John. Because of John, she refused to harm another human, thus disobeying mother nature. The other mermaids (Briney included) were beginning to become angry with her. Because of her disobedience, Mother Nature was becoming angry with the rest of them. It all culminated one night when Briney caught Whinn trying to sneak out and confronted her, asking why she was so determined to not go with the flow, to make ripples in their already tiny settlement. At the time, there were too few of them to be able to afford fighting within their own ranks. She didn't realize how far gone Whinn was. She didn't even try to talk, she just reeled back a fist and slammed it into Briney’s nose. She was in shock, but before she could do more than notice the blood flowing silver into the water, Mother Nature had appeared, furious. She laid her hand over Briney’s nose to heal it, then turned to face Whinn.  
Both of their eyes were flashing sparks as they faced each other, but Mother Nature’s held a hint of remorse. “Why?” she asked. Inside that one word, there were so many others it was impossible to count them all. Why did you betray me? Why wasn't I or your sisters enough? Why did you make it go this far? But as the seconds ticked by with no reply from Whinn, her eyes hardened. “You know I love you all, as I would love my own children, but you leave me with no choice. I have to do this in order to keep everyone else safe.”  
At about this time, Whinn had started to look nervous. “What...what do you mean? What are you going to do?” Mother Nature took her time answering. Minutes went by, and you could see Winn becoming more and more nervous as they passed. Her lips become thinner and her eyes became wider. Suddenly, her eyes flew to a spot just above Mother Nature’s head. Following her gaze, Briney saw a man shaped lump descending towards us. “JOHN!” The shriek that burst from Whinn’s mouth was almost painful to listen to, so full of emotion and heartbreak, even I could hear it. John was limp, his hair moving gently in the current.  


“I am going to have to kill him to turn you human again. You were supposed to die that day in the ocean, but you didn't. If I were to turn you back now, you would die. I need to kill someone else to keep the balance of life and death even. Don't worry too much. When you turn back, you won't remember anything except your name.” She then had turned to the rest of the assembled crowd. Briney hadn't noticed when people had started trickling in, but the entire local population of mermaids was now gathered around them. “The rest of you, go back to your homes. I don't want you to have to witness this.”  
Everyone cleared out as silently as they had approached. Briney took one last look at Whinn, mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ and then left. She wasn't really sorry. She couldn't even really remember what it felt like to be sorry. But she did know that you were supposed to say, “Sorry,” to someone going through a hard ship. So she had said it, then she had gone home and fell asleep.  


And now Mother Nature was back. Briney couldn't wait to see her. Her mind was brimming with ideas for what they could do together and wondering how long she would be staying. There were also faint twinges of guilt and a slight panic. What if she was here because someone had told her about what Briney had been doing? That she was singling out the crew of the ship she had been on? She shook these thoughts away, and let Charlotte grab her hand. No matter what Mother Nature’s reason was for appearing, she had so much to tell her.


	3. An Unexpected Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”  
> ― William James

Mother Nature was standing in the seaweed covered square. Briney vaguely noted that it was the same square in which the ‘Whinn Ordeal’ had gone down, but that thought was quickly squashed out of her head by the sight of Mother Nature. She was as ethereal as ever. With pale silvery hair floating behind her in the water, like clouds floating across the sky, skin as brown as dirt, long graceful limbs and a gown of moss, she looked exactly as you would expect the mother of Nature to look. She had a serene smile on her face as she observed all of the mermaids around her.  


As her gaze came across Briney, her face split into a smile. “Briney! It's so good to see you again. Has anything new been happening lately?” She couldn't help but smile back. Her home life hadn't been great from what she could remember. Briney’s dad was non-existent as far as her mother was concerned, and she herself was always to busy working to make time for her or her younger brother. She ended up being the one to raise him. Mother Nature had taken over the mother role in her life in a way that she had never even thought possible before her. She made Briney her first top when Briney first transitioned, and her pants when her legs came back. If the other mermaids tried to give her trouble about them, Mother Nature would stand up for Briney (not that their words really affected her anyway). Not having her around was like missing an essential part of herself.  


At the same time, she didn't approve of Briney’s vengeance scheme against the sailors who had tried to kill her. The first step to forgiveness is letting go of your past. Her words rang in Briney’s mind, a constant reminder that if she ever found out what Briney was really doing on her assignments, she would never look at her the same - with absolute trust and love. That was the only thing Briney didn't think she could stand to lose about her new life. So why did she keep pushing herself to find the sailors?  


Pushing the intrusive thought away, Briney forced her smile to go even wider and answered, “Oh you know, the usual. I found the sailor you sent me for.”  


“Oh? And did he seem...” She paused as if searching for the right word to finish her sentence. “Familiar?” Briney knew what she was looking for as Mother Nature searched her face. She was looking for the twitch of an eyebrow, the slight curl of a lip, anything that would give away Briney’s deception. But she had been playing this game for a long time now.  


“No. Well, there was something about him that seemed vaguely familiar. Maybe he was one of my old neighbors?” She let out a short laugh. “What a weird coincidence that would be.”  


The relief was palpable on Mother Natures face. Briney almost felt bad for lying. But, she couldn't really. So she just let her huge grin fade into a serene smile and motioned for Mother Nature to follow her back to the small coral reef which she called her home. Mother Nature, however, didn't seem ready to let this go quite yet. “So you are sure that you don't know exactly where he was from? No lingering feelings or anything?”  


Briney let a giggle slip past her lips. “No, why are you pushing this so much? Should I remember him?”  


“No! Not at all. I just wanted to make sure that you are still transitioning well,” Mother Nature quickly replied. Her eyes seemed to catch on another mermaid behind Briney. She turned and saw Charlotte waving frantically at Mother Nature. “Look, I have to go and talk to some of the other mermaids. I wish I could stay, but I don't have time. Hey, since I am here anyway, are you ready for another assignment? I have this one that I think will be perfect for you.”  


Briney barely even paused before replying. “Yes of course! You know I’m always looking for an excuse to go on a trip.” It wasn't a complete lie. Briney did like the travel part of her excursions, but nothing could beat the sensation of feeling something again. Something about Mother Nature's words, “...Perfect for you,” made Briney believe that this could be another one of the crew who had drowned her. It had never happened that there were two in a row before, but maybe fate was smiling upon her for some reason.  


“Ok, great! I’ll have a school guide you to the location. I have to go now, but I hope you really enjoy this one.”  


There was definitely something going on here. Usually she would give Briney the location herself with barely a passing thought, and the leave with a warning to not be caught. Why was Mother Nature being so tactful about this all? “I will. Thank you! If you don't mind, I’m going to take a short nap before I head out though. I need to rest my voice before singing again.”  


Mother Nature sagely nodded, and moved on to talk to Charlotte. Briney swam over to her coral house to take a short nap before she had to head out again. On her way, she caught some of Mother Nature’s words which were carrying on a current - “See if you can go with and find out…” but then Briney was out of earshot and heading inside her house. Although her house was made of coral, Mother Nature had worked her magic to make it completely dry inside so Briney could enjoy her legs while at home, without the risk of being seen by humans. As soon as she was near her house, she changed her tail into her legs so she wouldn't have to flop into her house. At the border of water and air, she took a step forward and emerged into her dry house. Once in, she barely even had laid on her bed before she was asleep.  
///  


Briney awoke with a start to see a fish staring at her. It was peering at her through one of the many holes in her ceiling. She jumped out of bed with a start. You would think she would be used to it by now, but she didn't think she would ever get over having fish watch her sleep.  


As she stumbled around her small house, the conversation with Mother Nature yesterday starting coming back to her. What could be this mysterious assignment? What about it made it so perfect for her? Maybe it was someone she knew previously. Or it could be someone Mother Nature wanted her to save, although that wasn't usually her specialty. Briney usually ran in the death and destruction crowd.  


The fish was still staring at her. What was it's problem? A fragment of Mother Nature’s words came back to her - “I’ll have a school guide you to the location.” Was this supposed to be the entire school of fish? With a running leap, Briney flung herself at the patch of water the fish was in.  


As soon as she breached the water, the fish turned on it's shiny silver tail and swam away. With a muttered, “Crap,” Briney changed her legs into a tail and booked it after the fish. The thing about fish guides is that, although efficient, they aren't very smart. They are given a destination and they go there. It doesn't matter if they person they are supposed to be guiding falls behind, once they are moving there is no stopping them. Which was why Briney was swimming faster than a sailfish trying to catch up before she lost track of it.  


Suddenly, there was a figure in front of her, and before she could slow down, she was crashing into it. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!” The words burst forth from Briney's mouth like silvery minnows, without a thought and spontaneous. There was some tinkling laughter, and immediately Briney felt both better and worse. She would know that laugh anywhere. It was Charlotte. Briney turned to talk to her, but then she remembered that she was chasing a fish guide. She turned to go after it again, but it was too late. The fish had disappeared. With a slight sigh, Briney turned back to Charlotte. “Sorry again for almost running you over, Charlotte. I was trying to catch my fish guide. I have another assignment and it was supposed to take to to it.”  


“Oh, no worry! It was kind of my fault for being in your way. I should have been watching where I was swimming.” She rubs her shoulders slightly self consciously. “Do you have any idea of where that assignment was?” Briney thought for a second, then shook her head no. Mother Nature hadn't said anything that could help her find the location. “Oh well, no matter! We can probably find it on our own. They usually just swim in a straight line towards wherever the destination is, right? Well, we can just swim in the same direction until we either catch up or find whatever the assignment is.”  


I stare at her in amazement. How didn't i think of that? “It's brilliant, Charlotte, thank you so much.” I start swimming away, and she swims after me. I stop. “Um, Charlotte, what are you doing?”  


“Following you. What does it look like?” She gives off her tinkling laugh again, then shrugs her tiny shoulders. “It was my idea after all. I think it's fair I get to tag along.” Her jaw is set, and Briney knows that there is no changing her mind once she makes a decision.  


Sighing, Briney cocks her head an invitation to Charlotte to tag along. A huge grin breaks across her face, and she gives a quick flick of her golden tail to catch up to Briney. As Charlotte reaches her, Briney turns around and they set off together to find whatever assignment it is which Mother Nature has picked out next.  


Briney is too tense and uptight to realize what she is swimming through - even if she has noticed, she wouldn't have cared. She is accustomed to it, and mermaids can't appreciate beauty the same way as humans can. If she were human, however, it would have taken her breath away. There was coral of every color below her, and if she were to slightly turn her head, she would see the forest of kelp which was growing to the left of where she was swimming. Small fish darted in and out from between the strands, and if they were playing hide and go seek. Manta rays glided over the coral in smooth movements, on the prowl for plankton to eat. Fish colorful enough to resemble the rainbow crowded around her, some close enough for her to reach out and grab if she wanted to. There was no fear of her anywhere in their behavior. 

She was one of them. What did they have to fear?  


Even if she had wanted to harm them, she didn't have enough attention to spare to inflict harm at the moment. She was much too focused on reaching her destination. She plowed on with such speed and urgency if you had seen her you would probably think she was fleeing from a killer whale. Charlotte was having trouble keeping up with her brisk pace. “Hey, Briney,” she had to take a brief pause to catch her breath, and so she grabbed Briney's hand - to be dragged along behind, or slow her down, she didn't know - before continuing. “You know, we aren't racing the tide here. You don't need to swim at jet speed.”  


Briney distractedly turned her head. “Hm? What was that?”  


Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Nevermind. Can we just take a quick break? You know that we have plenty of time, Mother Nature always gives plenty of time for the journey.” Of course Briney knew this, she had seen evidence of this time and time again. She always arrived at her assignments days early and had to wait. She didn't mind. Spending too much time with the other mermaids could be quite irritating. All they did was talk about the currents and gossip about who was going to get the next assignment or who was Mother Nature’s favorite. That was a big topic. Everyone wanted to be and because of that, no one could be trusted. They would all sell you out in an instant, even all the smallest insignificant things, to get on Mother Nature’s good side.  


Her thoughts were interrupted by Charlotte’s voice. “Ok, I'm good to go now.” Briney gave a bare nod and then turned with a flick of her tail. They were off again. As they swam through the kelp that had previously been to their left, Briney’s mind starting wandering again. Why was she allowing Charlotte to come with her? If she was going to someone she had known (as she suspected), she didn't want someone with her to notice her acting differently than normal and say something to Mother Nature. Charlotte had been here for an even shorter amount of time than Briney. They didn't know anything about each other. What if Charlotte betrayed her? There was nothing about Charlotte which made her inherently trustworthy. Yet, for some reason, Briney felt as if she could trust her with this. She didn't think Charlotte would tell.  


Suddenly, a flash of silver caught Briney’s eye. “There!” she pointed out the fish to Charlotte.  


“So whoever it is is going to be here sometime within the next couple of days,” Charlotte said unnecessarily. Briney couldn't help but be slightly annoyed at the outburst. Although she felt as if she could trust Charlotte, she didn't know what to expect from this mission. And she had never done an assignment with another mermaid before, although it was common for other mermaids to work together, Briney generally preferred to do her work alone.  


“Yes. I know how this works. I’ve been at it longer than you,” Briney deadpanned.  


Charlotte’s face flushed bright red. “Oh. Yea. Sorry, I just got excited.”  


Briney sighed. She knew that Charlotte didn't mean to be irritating, but at the same time, if Charlotte was to keep this up, she was going to be cranky. She was used to peace and quiet on her excursions, not incessant chatter. Maybe this was why she had never made any friends. Everyone else was irritating.  


Briney approached the fish. Another thing everyone should know about fish guides is that, although they swim like a tiger shark is chasing them to reach their destination, they won't move from that spot once they reach it unless they person they were supposed to be leading touches them. This can be slightly problematic for their health, as they tend to leave their followers behind.  


Briney quickly swims up to the fish and taps its face. It's off in a flash, disappearing with a flick of its tail. She watched it swim away in silence, then turns back to Charlotte. It was time to settle down and wait.  
///  


They almost didn’t notice the ripples which denoted a boat approaching. Almost. Briney sat bolt upright from where she had been floating on top of the water before plummeting into the icy depths of the ocean beneath her. Once she was under, she yanked Charlotte down to join her. Once they were both underwater and out of view, she took stock of what was around her.  
The sun was just beginning to set. She could see the shattered sun through the ocean, and all the colors of the sunset, but it's beauty was lost on her. She barely even took note of it before her eye snagged on a boat (Actually, more of a ship) sailing towards them.  


She swam towards it, forgetting about Charlotte who squeaked in indignation as Briney left her behind. The boat looked familiar to her somehow. As if she had seen it before. Suddenly, her mind wasn't with her in the present. Rather, it was on a ship...this ship...however many years ago. She was being pushed overboard, legs kicking and fingers grappling at the rough wooden sides of the ship. Mother Nature had sent her to the ship where she (or her humanity at least) had died.  


After realizing this, she sped up her approach of the ship. Once she had reached the hull, she switched out her legs for her tail and started to climb. She could hear Charlotte in the water, hissing questions, asking why she was climbing. Briney didn't bother to reply. It wasn't any of Charlotte’s business. She wasn't even supposed to be here. But, in a small part of her mind, Briney knew the real reason was because she knew if she told Charlotte the reason she was climbing - that she wanted to see their faces, to know if they remembered her - she might talk her out of it.  


So she instead climbed up the side of the ship and pulled herself over the edge as silent as a stingray floating over the reefs. She landed with cat-like grace and then prowled across the top of the ship. She briefly wondered why no one was out on the deck. It was sundown, not midnight. Even if it was midnight, there should have been a couple of people keeping watch. She decided to go looking around to see if she could find anyone.  


The first couple of doors she opened didn’t yield anything. Neither did the third or fourth. There was only one door left on this level. If there was no one there, she would have to move on to the lower levels.  


Reaching to grasp the handle, she yanked the door open. She didn't know what she had been expecting. A group of men playing cards? Some men eating a very salty dinner? Another empty room? She just knew she wasn't expecting the room to be filled with a mixture of men and women, all holding some kind of weapon. She wasn't expecting to see the captain. She definitely wasn't expecting to recognise the captain.  


“Zachary?


End file.
